


Run For Cover

by damedanbo



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Parents, Adventure, Aftermath of Torture, Child Abuse, Gen, Human Experimentation, Memory Loss, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rescue, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-04-21 01:11:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14273679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damedanbo/pseuds/damedanbo
Summary: For the first six years of her life, the Inquest lab was all she knew. On Thiiyf, growing up, and becoming more than your past.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so welcome to my ambitious multimedia fanfiction project! I've been working on it for uhh... longer than I'd like to admit, mainly because after the first week or two of frantic typing and painting and drawing I became fatigued and abandoned it for a while.
> 
> But I'm returning to the story and art now! Hoping to post on a weekly schedule, or at least every two weeks. We'll see how quickly I can complete the paintings I need for the coming chapters.

_ Thud. Thud. Thud. _

The slow, dull noise permeated the lab, coming up just under the beeping of machinery and scratching of pens on tablets. The lights in the lab were red, their prefered color to work under though it burned the eyes and made it difficult to see their tablets. There was an override switch with white lights that they could-

_ BONK. _

“Do something about that thing, Spiix,” the attending staff said, not looking up from her tablet but clenching her claws a little tighter around her pen. Spiix didn’t answer, examining closely two vials of dark liquid. They both looked black in the light. “It’s your progeny,” the scientist, Meena said.

“Ignore it,” Spiix said finally, squinting at the vial in his left hand. “It only wants attention.”

“It is  _ distracting me  _ from my  _ work,”  _ Meena said, “and if you don’t do something about it, I’m going to cut off its oxygen!”

_ THUD. _

“Knock it off!” Meena yelled, turning to face the tank. Cylindrical, made of glass, built like a giant test tube, or a beaker, full of pink liquid that of course looked red in this lighting, stopped up at the top with drainage at the bottom that allowed fresh, oxygenated liquid in and out, cut through with wires and tubes that attached to the progeny inside, if it could be called that. 

The progeny, runty and pale, speckled with grey spots, stopped momentarily. Its eyes were crossed, a result of the constant head pounding against the thick glass, and she gazed dully out at Meena and Spiix, with eyes that could not be described as soulful but which still held a great deal of sorrow and longing.

“Send for its mother,” Spiix said, “she can deal with it.”

“I’m not your assistant,” Meena reminded him. “Besides, she’s out in Metrica.”

Spiix sighed loudly, putting his two test tubes down. He had failed, in this lighting, to determine which was green and which was blue; they both looked black under the red. “Turn on the  _ normal  _ lights, please,” he said, sounding a little sarcastic on the last word, but Meena obliged nonetheless. The red lights shut off at the flip of a switch and on came the dazzling white lights, turning the lab into a wonderland of shining tools and glistening vials. “Why we have to use those things is beyond my grasp-”

“One-ear says it’s for the “aesthetic,”” Meena said, making air quotes. “One-ear” was one of their superiors, known for his lopped off left ear, and the name was not something to be said to his face.

“We all know we’re inquest already, we don’t need  _ lights  _ to remind us. Drain the tank.”

The progeny looked up hopefully, eyes wide. The bubbling pink liquid began to drain when Meena typed in a code and hit a button, and it was left dangling by its armpits in the harness, dripping with oxygenated fluid. Its hair was short, wavy and pink, and they determined it must be from all the time spent floating in the tank, but no one cared enough to really investigate.

“Take it out,” Spiix ordered. 

“Do it yourself,” Meena said, occupying herself with her tablet.

“If I touch that thing, it’s going to try to bond with me, and we’ll be put ten steps backwards.”

“I do not want to hold that progeny,” Meena snapped.

“Then send for an assistant! And have them bring it to the operating room. We’ve experiments to run.” Spiix snatched up the green vial, visible in this light, and walked in the sort of waddling way Asura walked, out of the lab. Meena grinned, turning to sneer at the progeny left naked and hanging in the tank.

“Oh, it’s your lucky day,” she said, tapping on the glass.

 

The tall assistant who brought the progeny to the operating room was by no means gentle. He hauled it from the top of the tank by the scruff of her neck, like a kitten, though the young Asura had never seen one of those to date and was unable to make the comparison itself; instead, it thought fearfully that its neck would snap.

He hauled it by its thin, malnourished arm, down the red-lit hallway to the next pentagonal door on the right. It opened automatically to a white-lit room, sterile, or mostly so. Metal gleamed in the light, scalpels and needles and saws, and the assistant dragged the wide-eyed, curious child to the table and strapped it down by its arms, legs, and neck.

“What are you standing around for, shoo!” Meena yelled at him as soon as he’d finished, chasing him from the room. The door shut behind him, leaving the two Inquest and their experiment alone in the bright chamber.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Meena asked, watching with some amount of delight as the progeny struggled against the neck strap, choking itself. “Appendix rupture?”

“That experiment was a failure, Meena,” Spiix sighed, “we’ll try it again when it’s older.”

“Well then what?”

“I want to see how the subject reacts to this,” Spiix said, holding up the green vial. 

“Is that…”

“Toxic ooze? How nice of you to notice.”

“You clever thing!” Meena said, grinning at him with her sharp teeth. “It’ll either die, and we’ll be rid of it, or we’ll find a new use for those blasted oozes! It’s perfect!”

“Of course it is, I thought of it,” Spiix said, transferring the contents of the vial to a syringe. The long, thick needle shone in the light, glimmering white like the rest of the room. Spiix tapped the full syringe, squirting a drip of ooze out of the needle, and approached the subject.

The progeny eyed the needle fearfully, fully aware that the things that happened in this room usually  _ hurt. A lot.  _

“I’ll hold it down,” Meena offered.

“There is no need. It is fully restrained,” Spiix said.

“Yes, but it’s more fun like this.” She grabbed the progeny’s thin arms, sneering down at it as she pinned them to the table. “Ooh, I hope this kills it.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Spiix said, tapping the progeny’s arm for a vein, then jamming the needle in. The young Asura bit back a shriek, and it died in its mouth. Spiix pushed the plunger slowly.

They watched the progeny go pale, eyes glassy. It lay limp on the table, mouth open, drool running down its chin. “Shall we see if we can save it?” Spiix asked.

“Either way, I’d say we’ve got our answer,” Meena said. 

_ Don’t leave me, papa… _

 

It jolted awake, unaware that it had been unconscious. It gasped, and fluid filled its mouth, bubbles flowing to the top of the tank. Its arm ached and burned, and it glanced down to see an angry red mark where Spiix had skewered it.

So it had survived. It wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved, or saddened by the thought. On the one hand, each day alive was another opportunity to be around Spiix in the lab, watching, pleading for his attention. On the other hand-

The lights came on red, but they didn’t stay that way. They flashed, red to black, red, black, and the alarm started up, wailing throughout the lab. It had heard this sound once before, and found that it hurt its ears, even protected as they were by the dense fluid in the tank. Meena ran into the lab, frantically throwing papers aside to find a folder she wanted to save. The progeny bumped its head against the glass a few times, and Meena glanced over her shoulder. The young Asura looked pleadingly at her.

“Consider yourself lucky. Today is the day that you die,” Meena said, collecting her folder and running from the lab. The door shut itself behind her, the two halves coming back together to make a pentagon again.

The alarm continued for a few minutes more, then stopped mid-wail. The lights went black. The progeny closed its eyes, somewhat relieved. Whatever attack had been going on, it was over, and the Inquest would return and it wouldn’t be alone in the dark any longer.

Except…

The darkness stretched on. It could hear no footsteps down the hall, nor any of the beeping machinery that usually monitored its vitals. The fan that blew fresh air into this part of the lab was silent and still. It was as if the entire complex had suddenly died.

Except for the progeny.

It didn’t want to be alone, it didn’t want to be in the dark, it wanted to find and help Spiix, and so it struggled against the harness, kicking its legs and reaching up to bump its hands against the heavy top of the tank. That proved futile, too high to reach, and it was still so weak and sick from the injection- so it pounded on the glass with its grey fists, no sense of rhythm in the movement. 

Footsteps, many footsteps in the hall. The progeny stopped, holding still and listening closely, ears bobbing in the fluid. The inquest were back, finally. They must have finished chasing off the intruders.

“-try to get it open.”

“-something in-”

A long, thin metal thing slid between the two halves of the door, and forced the pieces apart. As it was separated, a golem hand shot through the doorway, holding the piece up against the top frame and allowing several Asura, and another kind of person it had never seen before, into the dark room.

They shone small, blue beams of light around the room, looking at the toppled papers on the workstation and all over the floor, examining the vials and tubes and wires and machinery. The progeny watched from its dark corner, terrified. Who- what- were these people? What was that tall, spindly thing? It was no Asura, no golem, no Skritt, it was sure of that.

“I don’t think there’s anything in here, Warden,” an Asura with a nasally voice said, “but the rest of the compound-”

One of the others shone a light in the corner finally and screamed, cutting the first Peacemaker off. They all turned to look and the progeny squinted in the light, eyelashes nearly touching. All was still and silent, except for the beam of light shaking in the Asura’s hand.

“It’s a child,” the tall, unnatural being gasped.

“A progeny!” The nasally Asura cried. “Get her out of there!”

The Peacemakers and their strange friend swarmed the tank. Two of them ran up the steps that led to the top, attempting to pry the seal open. “It won’t budge!” one of them cried, “she’s trapped in there!”

“There’s got to be a panel somewhere-”

“There,” the tall creature said, locating the controls. The progeny felt its heart racing, panicked- if they got it out of its tank, who knew what they would do with it.

“This is precision equipment,” the Asura leader said, “we’ve got to be very careful to unlock the-”

There was a smash, a scream of metal on metal as the tall creature swung its sword into the panel. “Idiot!” The nasally Asura cried, “you’ve doomed her!”

“It’s unlocked,” one of the other Asura called, lifting the lid of the tank. The nasally one looked none too pleased.

The progeny squirmed, trying to get away from them. Hands grabbed at its shoulders, pulling gently; arms wrapped around its chest, holding carefully, and as it was pried free of the liquid, one of them petted its wet, wavy hair. They removed the wires and tubes carefully, examining it for sickness and disease on the spot. 

“Will she live?” the tall monster asked in its strange accent.

“For now,” one of the Asura said. “We must get her back to Rata Sum.”

It was too stunned to struggle, too shocked and too afraid as the tall one approached, scooping it off the harsh metal platform and into its arms. It lay prone, terrified of angering the creature, and allowed itself to be carried. 

The group of Peacemakers followed, ducking under the half-open door, and headed down the hallway. More Peacemakers were there, and they gasped and shook at the sight of it, dripping wet, small and skinny, unmoving for fear of death.

“We can treat her here,” one of the Asura said, “their operating room-”

“No,” the tall thing cut her off. “We’re getting her out of here, first and foremost.”

“Yes, Warden.”

They reached the end of the hallway. The progeny had never been this far, only to the operating room and the other nearby rooms. At the end of the hall was a big, open chamber, and at the end of that chamber was another short hallway, and at the end of that, it could see light, bright and green and very strange.

“She’s probably never been outside,” the Asura to the Warden’s left said.

_ Outside?  _ What was that? Outside of the lab? Was there- was there something out there? Something else?

The Warden carried it towards the door, and it tensed up as they neared the green light. When they reached the entrance, it couldn’t stop its jaw from dropping. There was so much more than just light. It was…

It was green, and not like the toxic ooze or the chemicals that Spiix played with. Green, and white and blue and other colors it didn’t know, colors it hadn’t seen before. Green and wide and unending, and not a drop of red.

“It’s okay, young one,” the Warden said, looking down at it, and it realized it was crying and quickly hid its face. “We’ll get you home.”

The Warden carried it for what felt like a very short amount of time as it gazed, amazed, at the greenery around them. Things- there were all sorts of things it had never seen, big things and small things and moving things and buzzing things, there was a stream of liquid, blue and bright and gurgling, what a happy noise, and above them- oh, the ceiling to the Outside was something else, bright and blue and speckled with white like spilt powder, and a bright, glowing light in the distance that hurt its eyes to look at.

“Don’t stare at the sun!” one of the Asura warned, and it obediently looked away. The other Asura, the woman, continuously grabbed things off the ground to show to it- a hard, shapeless thing, covered in filth, a green, flat thing, a round, colorful thing with many petals, small creatures, small insects, this and that. The progeny took it all in, curious and wondering, but too afraid to speak. Speaking had never been tolerated before.

“Do you think she’s mute?” one of them asked quietly.

“No,” the Warden said, “she’ll speak when she’s ready.”

It was a long, long walk, and the scenery just kept changing. There were structures, big buildings (other labs?) that rose over here and over there, but they continued to walk, never stopping.

The progeny memorized it all. If they left it now, it would know the way they’d come.

 

 

At long last they came to a great cluster of labs, and the progeny could see Asura working inside them, Asura who paused in their work and watched the group pass, mouths hanging open. At the end of the long line of labs was a round thing, swirling with mist, and the progeny clung to the Warden as they passed right through it.

How it had worked was beyond their comprehension, but now they were somewhere else, somewhere great and high up and sort of terrifying. The progeny hid its face. It felt the Warden moving, carrying it down a slope and off some distance, and soon it was being laid on a table. It struggled to hold onto the Warden.

“I’ll be right here, young one,” the Warden promised. 

A doctor entered and the progeny prepared for the worst, to be injected, to be cut open again, to be in pain- but it didn’t come. The doctor examined it carefully, handling the progeny as it it would break at any moment, turning over its arms, checking its ears and nose and mouth, then gently drawing a sample of blood from its elbow. The needle barely even hurt, going in.

“We’re checking the database, but there’s no guarantee she was even born here,” one of the attending Asura said. “She might be an Inquest’s progeny. If no one claims her…”

“She will be welcome in any home,” the doctor said firmly. “Anyone who would turn a progeny away in such a condition is welcome to come and talk to  _ me. _ ”

It was dressed in some kind of thin gown then, and returned to the Warden’s arms.  _ What are you,  _ it wanted to ask, as it was so curious about the Warden’s nature- he was so green, like the world they’d passed through on their way to this lab, and his hair grew not at all like hair, but like the mysterious green life the Asura had shown to it. It had never seen such a creature before in its life, and the idea that there could be More creatures that it didn’t know, more things it had never seen- well, it was frightening.

“No matches found,” one of the Asura said, looking up from his screen. “She’s not in any database.”

“To think that the Inquest would treat their own young like this- to think they would torture any progeny…” the doctor slammed her fist into the table, making it flinch in the Warden’s arms. “Tell me they’re dead, Warden. All of them.”

The Warden glanced down at his charge, then nodded grimly. The doctor sighed. She approached the warden and the small, malnourished progeny. “You are welcome in my lab, and my home, you tiny thing,” she said, reaching a clawed hand out. The progeny was still a moment, considering, and then slowly reached a small hand out to touch their palms together. “Dronn, see if you can match her blood to anyone in Rata Sum. Maybe she has a distant relative we don’t know about.”

They sat for a while, while the doctor ran blood tests and her krewe searched Rata Sum for answers. The Warden held the progeny, allowing it to unfurl and examine things at its own pace. It turned in his lap, looking curiously up at him. His flesh was hard, scratched and cracked in some places, like a pale cement, maybe. It wasn’t sure what to call the texture or material. His hair was not like hair at all, each strand wide and flat like the thing the Peacemaker had called a leaf and let it touch on the way to Rata Sum.

“Hello, little one,” the Warden said when he caught it looking, and it quickly ducked its head for fear of punishment. “Have you ever seen a Sylvari before?”

It lifted its head slowly, and shook it for “no.”

“I suppose there are many things you’ve never seen, the Sylvari said, smiling at it with sad eyes. “Do you have a name, little one?”

_ Subject Four. The Progeny. Tank One. It.  _ But could it really trust this tall creature with any such information about Spiix’s lab?

It shook its head.

“We have to call you something,” the Warden said, pondering. He hummed to himself, and it leaned forward, into his chest, enjoying the vibration and the noise.

“Warden,” the doctor said, stepping away from her task a moment, “I know you’re busy out in Brisban. You can leave her here with us.”

“I couldn’t possibly,” the Warden said. “She’s stolen my heart.”

“Oh, a little thief, is she?” the doctor teased, reaching out to let the progeny touch hands again. “Well, you’re free to look after her as long as you’d like. We have plenty of work to do here already.”

“I’d be honored to help,” the Warden said. The progeny lifted its head from his chest, looking around at the lab again. How long would they keep it here? The previous lab, its home, was so far away now, and though it knew the way back, it doubted the scientists here would let it leave. They’d want to poke and prod and hurt and touch and tear it apart for information on Spiix, on its mother. On Meena. The technicians and scientists and doctors here seemed so soft, so gentle and careful, but they were, as it knew, the bad guys. Inquest killers. Enemies to science and information.

It curled in on itself again and willed the day to end.

  
  


The doctor, Wexx, led the Warden down into the depths of Rata Sum, leaving her krewe to continue their search. The Warden, who had never been so far into the Asuran city, looked about in awe of the architecture, and the progeny did the same. Wexx greeted various Asura that they passed with an “excelsior” and a nod, but introduced them to no one.

“I share an apartment with my partner, Azza,” Wexx informed them. “Normally I’d stay at the lab through the night, but I’d say this is an extenuating circumstance.” She stopped in front of a small, Asura-sized door in the endless stone wall, identical to any other, placed her palm flat on the center of the door, and walked through as the two halves flipped up and open, into the frame. The Warden ducked to follow, the back of his head scraping on the ceiling.

“You may find it a bit cramped, but we Asura are used to such small spaces,” Wexx informed him without being asked. “It’s much more efficient to fit 1,000 small apartments in a block than 750 mid-sized homes. Besides, most of us don’t go home much.” That much was obvious; the place was dusty, but otherwise neat. The decor could be described as minimalist. Three framed holographs faced straight ahead on a shelf on the far wall: Wexx and (the Warden could only assume) Azza, Azza with her diploma, and Wexx’s doctorate.The two of them didn’t appear to have any hobbies or knick knacks, based on the emptiness of the first room.

“First things first, our little heart thief needs a bath,” Wexx said, leading the Warden into a bathroom that could only be described as “tiny.” He would have nearly struggled to turn around in it. “She’s covered in perfluorocarbon. You take care of that; I’ll activate the cleaning golems and find her something else to wear.”

“How do I…” The Warden trailed off. Wexx raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t understand how to use this,” he clarified, gesturing to the complex looking bathtub.

“I forget, not everyone is used to our technology. Here, take that off,” she said, untying the paper gown and tossing it into the hallway. “Now, sit her on the seat, set the temperature here, control the flow and jets with these, and the concentration of cleansing fluid with this- this button cycles the water, and this one drains the tub. Got it?”

The Warden nodded very slowly, not having grasped any of it. Wexx flipped a few switches for him with a sigh and inched her way out of the bathroom around him.

The Warden had to kneel, feet out in the hallway to bathe the progeny. She was still and silent the entire time, staring straight forward, arms and legs slack. The small tub filled up to the progeny’s mid-chest and the Warden started to flip switches again, trying to shut the water off- unnecessary, it proved, as the tub cycled itself, continuously draining and refilling with hot water. A cleaning golem whirred behind him, vacuuming up months of dust in the hallway.

“Is it too hot?” the Warden asked, locating what he hoped was some kind of hair product and pouring a little atop the progeny’s head. She shook her head no. He smiled at it, placing his hands atop her head and scrubbing gently with his strong fingers. Foam plopped into the water all around the progeny, stained pink with PFC, fizzing and dissolving into nothing in the tub. “I didn’t think this through,” the Warden sighed, searching for a way to rinse her hair out- only for the bubbly shampoo to rapidly dissolve into water that sloshed down the progeny’s face and neck, dripping clear into the tub.

“Our technology is amazing, isn’t it?” Wexx boasted, peeking around him at the young Asura. “Hit that black button on the right- there you go- now the red one for the heater- that’ll dry her off. I’m going to call for a meal to be brought to us. Do you eat tofu?”

“I don’t see why not,” the Warden said, taking an offered article of clothing from the doctor. He unfolded it as the progeny dried off, finding a functional, grey, boring sleeveless turtleneck. “I don’t think it suits you, between you and me,” he whispered to the progeny, “but we’ll get you something nicer later.”

Clean, dry, and clad in all grey, the progeny was carried out to the front room again. “Just sit anywhere,” Wexx called from the next room over, then resumed placing her call. The Warden looked around, unsure. Asura furniture was small, low to the ground, and rather uncomfortable looking. He sat on what he hoped was some kind of bench, letting the progeny get comfortable in his lap before he started to work on her tangled hair. It was choppy and uneven all around, obviously cut by someone who didn’t care about the child, but at least soft from the perofeuro… the perfleor… something carbons.

“There you are,” he said, combing the hair back from her face. The progeny gazed, wide-eyed up at him, and then slowly, delicately, reached a small hand up to touch his cheek.

Oh!

The Warden laughed, eyes crinkling shut, and the progeny quickly withdrew her hand, as if afraid of the repercussions. “No, no, it’s alright,” he assured her, putting his hand out for her to examine. “You’re curious. I don’t mind.”

It ran its little round fingers over his knuckles, in awe of the texture. What was it? He had no claws, no fingernails to speak of, but his hands were far from smooth. His pale green skin was thick to the touch, it found when it poked at it with its claws, not spongy and soft like its own flesh. The color was so beautiful; it wanted to tell him, to make sure he knew how absolutely stunning he was in color- but words failed it, as they often did, and it could only stare at his big hand, mouth hanging slightly open. 

“I noticed in my krewe’s lab,” Wexx said, walking past them to the front door to collect their meal, “her eyes are a little crossed. Purely cosmetic, but it can probably be fixed.”

“I think it’s cute,” the Warden said, smiling at the progeny. “It’s endearing.”

“It’s ultimately up to her, of course,” Wexx said, bumping a panel in the wall with her hip. A table sprang from the floor, between the bench where the Warden sat and the chair across from it. Wexx sat herself in the latter and laid an array of square containers on the table, unlatching each one in turn to open them and reveal food.

The progeny lifted its head, curious, and sniffed the air.

“I’ve got your attention now,” Wexx said, “come and eat.”

The Warden let the progeny move forward, towards the edge of his lap, eyeing the food hungrily. It glanced back at him, nervous.

“You can eat,” he assured it. “No one will stop you.”

The progeny reached slowly out for the nearest dish, hand shaking. When Wexx and the Warden failed to scold or hurt it for its actions, it grabbed hold of the entire dish, bringing it close to gobble up the offered food. 

“It will take time,” Wexx said, “but someday, we will move past this.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Thiiyf! She doesn't remember her past and she doesn't care!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember how I said "weekly, bi-weekly update schedule!" ? oops. I got busy. I'm working on a novel right now alongside this, so I don't have as much time to paint or write on this side of things. I'm going to try just posting what I have over the next month or so, which is apparently about 7-8 chapters, and worry about painting and drawing for it.... later.
> 
> BIG warning for blood/guts/gore imagery + painting near the end!

“Thief! You thief!” the salesman cried, chasing after the nasty brat as far as he dared to run from his stall. “Call a Peacemaker! Someone! Get back here!” He stopped running when it became clear he could not keep up with the young Asura, sighed, and returned to his stall to count his wares. The thief popped her head out from behind the pillar where she’d hidden herself, grinned, and took off running again.

She knew Rata Sum like it was the back of her speckled hand, the alleys and underbridges, the best places to hide and the quickest route from here to there to anywhere. She’d not left the city once in her entire life, and so she had spent her time mapping it, somewhat crudely compared to the professional maps she’d seen for sale around the bazaars- but she was proud of her work, and happy to do it. 

Besides, none of the official maps could show her the secret passageways and false walls, or tell her which blocks to avoid, or when the guard golems were away from an area, leaving it vulnerable to theft.

Ah, thievery! How she loved to snatch things, food and toys and all sorts of things she didn’t need, things she hoarded under her mattress, trinkets, baubles, shinies that would have made a Skritt’s head spin. She had books and disks and computer parts, wires and cords, chips and power stones and all sorts of broken things.

And she had never been caught.

She chuckled to herself, skipping over to the nearby bridge and hopping down beneath it easily. Beneath the bridge was a horizontal support beam that she hurried across, then she leapt down the crumbling stone on the other side and slid to the next level down.

She ran along the edge, jumping over tree roots and large succulents, turned a corner and dropped down again. She landed on her bare feet, toes instinctively curling to grab onto something, and paused to examine her find.

It was a holographic recorder of some kind, designed to capture picture and sound and project it in 3D. Her doctor had several of them in her office, but this one looked different. The Asura examined it from every angle, turned, and pointed it at a tree growing from the cliff. The recorder scanned the plant, and then displayed a tiny, full color geometrical model of the little tree.

Neat!

She made her way home on the backsides of the apartments, running over the narrow cliffs and then ducking through a few back alley drainage streams.

A palm on the door was all it took to open it, and she stepped into the dark apartment, still fiddling with her new toy.

“Hello, niece,” a smooth voice said from behind her. The lights switched on. She froze, turning to look at her aunt, waiting against the wall by the door.

“Excelsior,” the younger Asura said.

The aunt slammed her palm against the panel by the door and the two halves swung shut, locking them in. “I see you’ve got yourself a new trinket.”

“Oh, th… this? This old thing? This is just… no, it’s not new.”

“Really.”

“I’ve had it forever!”

“So you  _ didn’t  _ steal it from the bazaar on the fifteenth level.”

She gulped.

Her aunt sighed, stepping away from the wall. “Thiiyf, I understand. You’re bored. You’re intelligent, and you have no way to occupy your time. It’s natural for an Asura Not in Education, Employment or Training to find other ways to occupy themselves.”

“Are you mad at me,” Thiiyf asked, face falling.

“Of course I’m mad. Give me that.” She grabbed the device from Thiiyf, turning it over in her hand. “This isn’t worth getting in trouble for. The rendering capabilities are laughable.”

“I know.”

Her aunt shot her a sharp look with her one good eye. The other hid behind a black eyepatch, grizzled and scarred beyond use. Her skin was a flat grey, unlike Thiiyf’s speckles, dark brown hair hanging around her shoulders. She sighed, closing her eye, and dug from the pouch on her thigh a communicator.

“Wexx wants to see you.”

“Me?”

“Says it’s a big deal.”

“Should I go now?”

Her aunt shrugged. “Might as well see what she wants, yeah. Thiiyf.” The younger Asura paused, hand reaching for the door. “...you should do something with your hair. It’s getting unwieldy.”

“I’ll braid it,” Thiiyf said, spinning around on one foot and heading towards her room.

Like every one of the 60,000 bedrooms in Rata Sum, it was small. Thiiyf stepped inside and the door closed behind her, leaving her three square feet of standing room between the entrance and the bed. Asura weren’t expected to spend much time in their bedrooms. No matter! She lifted the thin, functional mattress to access her stash underneath. It was very close to full; there wasn’t much more room to store her stolen junk. Laz knew where it was, she knew, but had never made any effort to remove the stolen goods or really punish Thiiyf.

She was a pretty cool aunt.

Grabbing the thing she needed, she laid the mattress back down and sat atop it. She dragged a platinum-dusted brush through her hair, tangled and wavy as ever, smoothing out the strands before pulling it all back into two braids. 

Laz wasn’t in the apartment when Thiiyf left; she must have come home just to chastise her. Thiiyf grabbed an orange on her way out, puncturing the skin with her thumb-claw as the door shut behind her.

She peeled it as she went, tossing the peel onto the path behind her. Oranges grown in Rata Sum were entirely seedless, having been genetically modified not to need seeds anymore, though oranges grown elsewhere apparently still had the nasty little things. Thiiyf munched on the slices in order, licking juice from her palm before it would drip into her tunic sleeve, and chucked another piece of peel over her shoulder-

“Halt!”

She froze, though her instincts told her to run. At the intersection of roads to her left stood a Peacemaker officer and the vendor she’d snatched from earlier- pointing accusingly at her.

“Excelsior,” the Peacemaker said, approaching. “It is my understanding that you, the suspect, have acquired an item belonging to him, the victim.”

“She stole from me!” the vendor yelled, jabbing his finger at Thiiyf.

“Officer, really, I’ve never seen this Asura in my life,” Thiiyf said, putting her hands up defensively.

“Cuff her!”

“Sir, I will do the talking,” the Peacemaker said. 

“Search her! I guarantee she still has it on her!”

“I submit myself to a voluntary search,” Thiiyf said, confident. Laz had the recorder now, it wasn’t like they would find anything on her.

“Very well. I will proceed with the search.” The Peacemaker patted her sides, from her armpits down to the bottom of her pant legs, and straightened up, shaking their head.

“What about her backpack?” the vendor complained.

“I submit my bag to a voluntary search!” Thiiyf announced, sticking her flat nose in the air, hands on her hips proudly. The vendor glared at her. The Peacemaker shrugged, taking her bag and digging through it.

“There is no holographic recorder in the suspect’s bag,” they announced, “only a map of…”

“Hey!” Thiiyf cried, having forgotten she’d had her maps on her. “You- you can’t touch those!”

“Suspect submitted her own bag for voluntary search. Therefore…” The Peacemaker trailed off, examining the map. “This pathway does not exist in Rata Sum,” they informed Thiiyf.

“It does,” she said.

“Patrol has never seen… these passages are…”

“Can we get back to the issue at hand? She stole from me!” the vendor cried.

“Silence,” the Peacemaker said, putting a hand up. “Suspect, state your designation.”

“Thiiyf.”

“And your place of habitation.”

She huffed and rolled her eyes- “1896, block 170!”

“Very well. Thank you for your time.” The Peacemaker turned and left without fanfare, taking her map with them. Thiiyf’s heart sank. All the time and effort and exploration put into that thing…

“I don’t care what they say, I know you have it!” the vendor cried, running at her. “You filthy little urchin, give me back my-!”

“Is there a problem here, Glipp?” Wexx called in her authoritative voice, hands stuffed in her lab coat. The vendor paused, turning to look at her. “Or are you just assaulting my patient for fun?”

“She- she stole from me!” Glipp cried, pointing accusingly at Thiiyf again.

“And? Your factory mass produces those trashy little overpriced cubes at a speed of 10,000 per hour, for mere copper. You’re telling me you don’t account for loss at your little stall? You can’t afford to lose out on .002 copper?”

Glipp gaped at her. “She… she’s…”

“Seems to me that if you spent more time on quality control and less time starting fights with passerby, you might actually have a product worth buying,” Wexx said, popping a vaporizer out of her pocket and taking a long drag off it. She blew a cloud of vapor into the air- cherry scented.

Glipp began to back away, looking incredibly hurt. “I’m... I’m going to FORBID my employees from going to your lab, Wexx!” he yelled. “You can mark my words!”

“You’re so dumb,” Wexx sighed. “Thiiyf, let’s go.”

“I know where you live!” Glipp yelled after them. “I’ll get you!”

“Ignore him,” Wexx said, “he’s all hot air.”

“You came to find me?”

“Well, you were taking so long, I figured you must have run into some kind of trouble.” She took another puff of vapor, holding it for a long while before exhaling.

“I heard that those are bad for you,” Thiiyf said, eyeing the device.

“Please. I’m a doctor, I’ll decide what’s bad for me.” She glanced at the young Asura. “Don’t ever try it, though.”

“Yes, doctor.”

“Let’s take the elevator,” Wexx said, and the elevator doors sprung open at the word. The two of them stepped inside. “Wexx Labs,” she said, and the elevator shot smoothly up into the upper levels of Rata Sum.

“So, how’s Laz?” Wexx asked, putting her vaporizer away.

“She’s… nice,” Thiiyf said.

“I realize you two clash heads sometimes, but she is your closest living relative.”

“I know,” Thiiyf said, although she also knew that wasn’t quite true. She’d never known her parents; they could be out there somewhere-

“Wexx Labs,” the elevator announced, and the doors slid open. The two of them stepped out into Wexx’s medical practice. It had expanded a lot over the years, her Krewe growing and changing with time into a fully staffed hospital. Wexx tugged up the collar of her coat and sniffed it, frowning.

“Do I smell like cherries?”

“A little,” Thiiyf said.

“Azza wants me to quit…”

Thiiyf nodded. 

“But I just can’t kick it. The Asura in this city are so stupid. Don’t repeat that. Come on.” Thiiyf followed her across the wide lobby, past the large receptionist desk and through the busy waiting room. They passed by every examination room, past the research lab, and finally reached Wexx’s office. She unlocked the door and let Thiiyf in ahead of her, then made a beeline for the sterile white couch. Thiiyf sat at a chair in front of the desk. Wexx always made her a little nervous. It was the same kind of nervousness Laz gave her, the sensation that they had been through a great deal and were likely to snap at any moment under the slightest provocation. She was always careful to be polite to the doctor, just in case.

“I was looking over your chart,” Wexx said, dragging her fingers through her short blonde hair. “Looks like I haven’t seen you for about a year.”

“Oh,” Thiiyf said. “It’s just a checkup?”

“What did you think it was?”

“I thought I was in trouble.”

Wexx laughed. “Guilty conscience. Any problems recently?”

Thiiyf shook her head.

“Anything you think I should know about?”

“Nope.”

“Any… nightmares?”

Thiiyf tried to reply with a negative, but her vocal chords wouldn’t move. The nightmare was the same as ever. 

“Nope,” she said softly.

“Just keep taking your medication, and it should be fine,” Wexx said. “You are still taking it, right?”

“Um…”

“Really? You’ve got two prescriptions, Thiiyf, come on.”

“I’m trying.”

Wexx sighed. “I’ll see if Azza will put them in a blister pack for you, so you won’t forget them.”

_ Oh, I’ll still forget,  _ Thiiyf was sure. “Okay.”

“Well.. I guess that’s all I have for you today,” Wexx said. “Oh, and- Nox wanted to see you.”

Thiiyf groaned loudly. “I know, I know,” Wexx said, “just humor him.”

Thiiyf had to drag herself down the hallway to Nox’s office. Well- office was a bit of a generous term for it. Who could take it seriously, with all the hypno-blypno bull that went down in there? Thiiyf paused outside the door and knocked.

“Enter!” Nox called. She sighed, rolling her eyes as the doors parted, revealing layer upon layer of bead curtains.

“Nox,” she said, parting the curtains and stepping into his abode, “this had better be important.”

“Oh, so important!” Nox cried, jumping up from his cushiony floor pillow. “Please, lay down.”

“No.”

“Not even for a minute?”

“I don’t like this psycho-hypothetical nonsense, Nox! I’m tired of humoring you.”

“Oh, but we’re getting so close to the source, I can just  _ feel it! _ ” He clenched his fist. “Please, Thii, just for five minutes?”

“Five minutes. I’m timing you,” Thiiyf said, plopping down on the floor and faceplanting into a cushy pillow. Nox shoved at her shoulder until she rolled over, onto her back.

“Cloooose your eyes,” Nox said. Thiiyf grumbled under her breath, but did so. “Now. Visualize yourself in a field of flowers.” He paused. “Are you visualizing it?”

“If you would stop talking, I could,” Thiiyf snapped. She sighed, trying to picture it. Flowers. Pink and yellow and purple, sure. Was this fantasy field supposed to just go on forever, into the ether? Were there any animals or insects there, or was she to believe that a field chock full of wildflowers hadn’t attracted a single pollinator?  _ This is so dumb,  _ she thought.

“Now,” Nox said, “standing behind you in this field is the most frightening thing you can imagine.”

_ Laz,  _ Thiiyf thought. 

“You cannot see this thing, but you know it is behind you.”

_ Uh-huh. _

“When I count to three, you will turn around and face the thing you fear the most. One…”

“Two…”

“Three.”

She turned, the unending field rotating in her mind. Red flooded her vision- a sheen of blood over the peaceful world, black around the edges now. A siren screamed. She couldn’t see what it was- it was all black, filling up her vision, but she became aware of a sharp pain in her belly. Looking down, she found herself naked, stomach slit open and organs spilling out. Blood poured onto the flowers beneath her, staining them black, and her ears rang. She tried to scream, but couldn’t move to do so. She was trapped staring down at herself as the dark figure reached forward with a clawed hand and plunged it into her open gut and pulled out a long, slimy handful of her insides and squeezed-

Nox snapped his fingers and Thiiyf awoke in his office, cold and sweating. “What did you see?” he asked, excited by the possibilities. “Don’t leave out any details, anything you can remember will help with my research!”

“I don’t remember anything,” Thiiyf said shakily, crawling into a kneeling, and then standing position. She stumbled towards the door. “I have to go.”

“It was a productive hour!” Nox called after her as the bead curtains rattled and the door closed itself.

 

She had trouble remembering the way home for the first time in her life. Thiiyf stumbled down the wrong street more than once, disoriented, blood still running cold in her veins. What had that been, back in Nox’s office- she hadn’t seen it, but she’d felt it like it was real, claws digging around in her abdomen like a bowl of candy. The red, so vibrant- there was a meaning behind it, she knew, some meaning she couldn’t place. She paused, leaning against a wall, and shook, sweat dripping from her forehead.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed by the time she reached home. She stopped before going in, taking a moment to steady her breathing and slap a non-panicked look on her face before putting her palm to the door.

Her first thought was that she must have been at the wrong apartment. But no, that wasn’t possible; her hand would only unlock her and Laz’s place. Her second thought was  _ oh, no, they’re here about my maps. _

“Come on in,” Laz said dryly, sitting, legs crossed, arms crossed, in the middle of the minimalist sofa. Thiiyf stepped inside, her nightmares and visions temporarily forgotten as she eyed their guests.

They weren’t all Peacemakers, she could tell. Two of them were Priory, one Vigil, and there was an unaffiliated Sylvari among them- she’d seen them before, sometimes in the bazaar, oohing and aahing over the junk there. The seven of them crowded into the front room, looking rather cramped and uncomfortable. Laz hadn’t bothered to offer them refreshments.

“Care to explain yourself?” Laz asked, her one steely eye focused on Thiiyf. The young Asura smiled nervously, shrinking back.

“N...o?”

“As we tried to explain to you earlier,” one of the Peacemaker officers said, “we are only here to inquire about the map.”

Thiiyf paled a bit. “What map?” she asked, playing innocent.

“The map you drew of Rata Sum,” Laz said, voice flat.

“Oh, of course. That map.” Curse that Peacemaker snitch, why did they have to go and tell everyone? Now she’d be stuck scrubbing golem parts back to shiny all year!

“Did you draw this,” the younger Priory researcher asked, holding up the creased and folded map, pieced together out of sheets of parchment. Thiiyf bit her lip and nodded.

“It’s remarkable!” The other Priory exclaimed. “The detail exceeds all expectations of a city map! You’ve actually found passageways the  _ Peacemakers  _ didn’t know about, paths formed before the creation of our armed defense forces! With this- they can defend the city with .4 percent more accuracy against attack!”

Oh, wonderful, they were going to start patrolling her shortcuts. “I just… love helping out,” Thiiyf said, heart sinking and knees weak. 

“You’ve done very well,” the lead Peacemaker officer said. “Your household will be receiving a .02 increase in income over the next year.”

“So generous,” Laz hissed.

“Is that all,” Thiiyf asked. She felt like going to her room and laying on her bed full of stolen stuff and just crying. She had spent ten years on the Rata Sum maps, and now the Peacemakers had them. The city would never be the same for her.

“If I may,” the Sylvari said. His accent was thick. He was dark green all over, with green and brown clothes that seemed to grown right from his chest. “Thiiyf, you do not know me, but it is my Wyld Hunt to bring peace and growth back to the land of Orr.”

Orr, she’d heard of that one. The Human continent that had been doomed and sunk to the bottom of the sea. Thiiyf nodded slowly.

“This land has not been touched for over two hundred years. No living being has walked upon its soil in centuries; I alone have seen Orr in this lifetime. I fear that if I lead a party there unprepared, we will perish.”

“Get on with it,” Laz said.

“We will not survive without a skipped cartographer. I humbly beg for your assistance in my Wyld Hunt, and in bringing peace to this once beautiful land again.”

“You want me to go to…”

“Orr! It’s ridiculous! Like I’d ever let my niece go on some crazy adventure to the ends of Tyria! Like you people don’t have another map maker! Like she can really just uproot her whole life and take off on some adventure! She’s  _ sixteen! _ ” Laz threw her hands up in the air, and Thiiyf was suddenly aware of just how stressed her aunt looked. Her face was pale. “You  _ expeditionaries  _ think you can just walk in here and walk out with the only good Asura left in Rata Sum! As if she’d ever agree to do it!”

The congregation was silent, accepting her rant and verdict. “Very well,” the Sylvari said, “we will leave you to your-”

“Laz,” Thiiyf said, “I’ll be okay.”

Laz whipped her head around. Her eye, wide with hurt, stared back at Thiiyf in surprise.

“I’ll be okay,” Thiiyf repeated. “I’m not going to get hurt.”

Laz stood, shaking, and pushed past her, slamming her palm against the door to open it. It shut behind her, leaving Thiiyf and aforementioned expeditionaries in the small living room.

“I’ll do it,” Thiiyf said. “I want to help.”

“That’s wonderful,” the Sylvari said, smiling at her. “I cannot thank you enough for volunteering your services.”

“When do we leave for Orr?” 

The Sylvari laughed outright. “It will be several years yet before we can march on Orr, Thiiyf. You’ll have plenty of time to train and prepare with us until then.”

That was more than a little anticlimactic; she’d expected to leave a heart wrenching letter for Laz and disappear into the night, never to be seen again- until she washed up on some shore as a Risen, probably. “Oh,” she said. “Okay. So when do we leave to train?”

The Vigil crusader lifted her hand slowly. “You’ll be with Tzuuya,” the Sylvari said. “She can show you the ropes and accompany you in the area. 

“You won’t be there?”

“I’m afraid I’ve work to do in Caledon Forest, and the Grove. There is another whose help I require in bringing life back to Orr. I suspect you will meet him someday soon.” The Sylvari gestured to the others, and they began to file towards the door, leaving Thiiyf and Tzuuya behind. The elder Priory member handed Thiiyf her map back as she passed by, and the door shut them out, leaving the two of them alone.


End file.
